Well, HD7970 is extremely expensive where I live. Retail price is ~ Euro 560 ($735). Watercooling it will add $500 additional cost ($160 for full cover block + $340 for rest of the kit). So I will end up with $1235 GPU. Still it won't be as fast in BF3 as GTX680. So what's the point of watercooling HD7970?
A single slot solution with no stacked power connector or double Backplate/IO is a lot prettier than the fugly power connector on the 680.
You watercool for various reasons. The only single slot solution currently is the 7970. Otherwise it's custom versions of a 680.
And yeah, stock this stock that but a 1000MHz 7970 will eat up the meagre single percentile differences at 2560 res.
It's kinda funny that nobody seems bothered the 7970 wins at Crysis, Metro 2033 and AvP. All are really graphically intensive. I think the 7970 has an edge with 3GB memory at max res with full eye candy.
Many reviews are worryingly varied and too few focus on true high end resolution with maxed settings.
I have no issue saying the GTX 680 is a great card with awesome design and engineering behind it. But the 7970 is no slouch either and mixes GPGPU with gaming. The GTX 680 sacrificed compute to focus solely on games.
However, all being said and done, I think (still) that GK100/110 will be the most insane card released for years and will just utterly hump AMD. So, I'll ride on my 7970 until true Kepler comes to town.